Major wireless infrastructure providers are looking to augment the throughput of their centrally-managed wireless communications systems through the addition of small-cell access nodes. Small-cell access nodes generally comprise femtocells, picocells and microcells that have a range of about 10 meters to 200 meters.
While small-cell based wireless communication systems promise large-throughputs, there are limits to the scalability of such systems. In particular, the expansion of small-cell based wireless systems to handle more customers requires ever-denser deployments of additional small cells. However, a large increase in the number of small cells can have unintended consequences. For example, even if the radiated power of each small cell is reduced commensurately to increased small-cell density, the aggregate throughput (i.e., the total number of communications that can take place) will ultimately saturate because of mutual interference. Further, as the radius of coverage of each small cell decreases to accommodate increased small-cell density, mobile terminal handoff rates (between cells) will increase, which adds to operational complexity and, in extreme circumstances, to dropped communications. Moreover, increased small-cell density requires both increased electrical power and additional backhaul capabilities to connect to the internet. Therefore, the costs of laying electrical wires and optical fiber for additional power and backhaul requirements also may be a deterrent to unlimited small-cell based expansion.